I used to be the kind of consumer that game companies love. I enjoy selecting, making purchases, and getting new stuff just as much as developing and playing the things I do have. In the last year, or so, I’ve been cutting back dramatically on my purchases, making more selective choices, and getting more enjoyment out of the games I do purchase.

Battlelore is one of my favorite games (and definitely my favorite wargame of any type). There hasn’t been an expansion I haven’t run out and acquired as soon as I could.

When I first got the game, I immediately started painting the miniatures. I was doing pretty well, getting most of the core set finished before the inevitable happened…my attention turned to something different.

As time went on, the expansions (and miniatures) started piling up! The already challenging task of painting all the Battlelore miniatures became a daunting one. Couple that with the fact that I wanted to re-base the hundreds I already did (remove the flock), and I had to reseal them with a paint on sealer (to eliminate the tack and stick that the aerosol sealer I originally used gave the miniatures) and you have a job that is easy to keep putting off.

Before Christmas I was bound and determine to go off on another new venture…Commands & Colors Napolionics! Needless to say, the mere thought of playing with wooden blocks never entered my mind, and I began to pick and choose the 15mm models I would be ordering.

It was then that it hit me just how many unpainted miniatures and unfinished projects I have sitting around (Don’t get me wrong, I have a ton more FINISHED projects than unfinished ones, but, that’s beside the point). Since the New Year was coming around I decided to make a New Years resolution…

Paint every Battlelore figure I have before buying any new miniatures!

Well, it’s been about a month now, and so far so good , I’ve stuck with the resolution. So like the dieter who brags about losing 5 lbs, here is my first stepping stone…The Goblin Horde! I started with my favorite figures, every Goblin miniature currently available, ready for play.

(I doubled up units to make them easier to photograph. The board is a new 3D one I made this past year…never before photographed).

Magnificent! These look absolutely fantastic! Great job! One day I hope to do the same.

Cheers,

Giles.

Very nice indeed. You are to be commended for your effort, and I certainly appreciate the 3-D board - very nice and functional. Well Done!

Do you have any advice on how to paint them? Sure would be nice to have some sort of document and/or pic of each.

Thanks

Cab

Caboose said:

I don’t really plan on taking a bunch of close ups at this point. My minis are generally painted to be practical and durable for play, rather than works of art for display purposes. This thread (and its sister threads on other forums) are mainly to keep me motivated . The more people I make a resolution in front of, the easier it will be to make it happen. Boardgame Geek has a more active Battlelore forum, so I’ll probably continue the threads there (and there are a few close-ups there, but not really to “show off” the paint job).

I do have some (strong) advice though...do not use any aerosol paint for priming or sealing. You will be left with a maddening stickiness. That said, I recommend priming, painting with acrylics, and then sealing with your choice of a brush-on acrylic varnish to seal them. It’s really pretty basic stuff.
Minwax Polyurethanes can also be used as a wash, or to seal the minis for a truly durable finish.

Very, very nice work indeed!

I also really like the look of your terrain as well. Did you make it yourself or is it something you purchased.

One suggestion, to give your game more visual appeal and don't take this the wrong way because your set up looks great, you may consider fielding infantry units with one stand of 3 figures glued on it, which becomes the unit's banner stand and then have 3 individual figures make up the rest of the unit. When the unit takes its 4th hit the banner stand is removed, just the same as if it was a single figure. Visually, even when your unit is down to its last figure, the stand of 3 figures still looks like you have a fighting force on the battlefield, not just an single figure. I mounted my figures on a thin card stock stand which seems to have worked well for us so far.

Mounted units have a stand with 2 figures (the banner stand) and 2 other figures.

Perhaps someone here could instruct me on how to include a picture, so I could show you what we have done.

Richard Borg

Richard Borg said:

Richard Borg, when posting, you may have noticed the image tool icon (fourth button from the right). If you have a picture on a hosting site such as www.photobucket.com or www.snapfish.com or some other such service, you can put the link to a particular photo or image into the image tool in order to display it in your post. For example:

(I used to have a lot of fun with that game until another came along...)

And by the way, Grubman, have to echo what others are saying - great work. I hope when I tackle the task it turns out half as well as yours is shaping up.

Richard Borg said:

Thank you Mr. Borg. You can’t ask for a bigger compliment than the games designer taking the time to comment.

Yes, the board was completely made by me. I made another, smaller board that I detailed step by step here:

boardgamegeek.com/thread/383385/battlelore-3d

or see the miniatures and board in use in a battle report here:

boardgamegeek.com/thread/388178/battlelore-battle-report-a-burgundian-chevauchee

I used most of the same techniques on this board; I just wanted a larger game area so I could make more detailed terrain.

Also, Ironically, I originally designed this larger board for Battle Cry to do exactly what you described. I couldn’t get a “real” copy of Battle Cry, so I decided to build one from scratch using 1:72 scale miniatures. I wanted to give it a dramatic look so I was mounting 2 cav per base and 3 infantry per base. When the new version of Battle Cry came out, I sold the miniatures I had painted (which I now regret) I had completed for a nice little profit…unfortunately, I’m not really taken with the new Battle Cry miniatures, so I haven’t decided if I will use them or get more 1:72 or 15mm (and start over). I don’t have many pictures of the Battle Cry 1:72s anymore, but if you look at the foreground of this Video Review, you can get a glimpse of them on the board:

Of course, now I’m really tempted to do C&C Napoleonics as well, and I’m sort of torn which one to do first…which is part of the reason I made the “resolution” to finish my Battlelore miniatures before buying any new ones…so in a way it’s your fault for making so many imagination inspiring games .